A little over a year ago I had the opportunity to check out Corsair's first ever computer chassis, the Obsidian 800D. I expected something along the lines of a cheesy OEM rebrand, but was I ever wrong. In the conclusion to that review, I stated that the Obsidian 800D was the best chassis I had ever used. That's saying a lot considering I have been reviewing hardware for over 10 years. Perhaps the only negative I can find with that case is the fact that not everyone needs a full tower case. Also, at $299, it simply didn't fit everyone's budget which is unfortunate since it is such a great chassis.

Corsair has since released two follow-up cases in the Obsidian line, the 700D and the 650D. The 700D is essentially identical to the 800D, but removes the hot-swap drive bays and windowed side panel. The 650D, on the other hand, is a mid-tower offering that heavily resembles the 800D in fit and function. There are some changes that had to be made given the smaller footprint, but it's largely a shrunken 800D. Today we will be going over the smaller 650D to see if it truly lives up to the stellar reputation the 800D holds.

The 650D arrived in the cardboard box shown above. The box isn't as flashy as some other manufacturers provide, but that really doesn't matter anyway. There is a large drawing of the chassis on the front and a very detailed breakdown of the case on the reverse. As you can see in the second photo, it looks like UPS ran into the box with a forklift as there was a huge gash in the cardboard which resulted in damage to the left side panel. This was despite the excellent packaging, including Styrofoam end caps and a bag to protect the case's finish. Corsair promptly replaced the damaged panel as I suspect they / your retailer would in a similar situation.

Below is a list of features and specifications, borrowed from Corsair's website.